Ant-Man 3 Story Pitch
by moviefanatic67
Summary: This is how I would imagine Ant-Man 3 will be. Picks up a year after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Scott Lang faces the greatest battle of his life as a new enemy hits close to home and the lives of those closest to him are put in jeopardy.


Here's my idea for Ant-Man 3:

The film opens in 2014 in Sokovia before the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

We finally see Eko Scorpion, the covert kill squad led by Baron Zemo, in action.

Zemo is leading a raid on a HYDRA facility (not the one that the Maximoffs were in, although they are mentioned).

During the raid, one of Zemo's men, an American named William Cross, is looking around a part of the facility and sees plans for one of HYDRA's side projects: The Yellowjacket.

The raid becomes chaotic and Cross becomes severely injured, losing one of his eyes. Sometime later, Zemo orders a doctor at gunpoint to fix his eye and Cross is fitted with a highly advanced eye.

*cue Marvel Studios logo*

We cut to Present Day (actually 2024, a year after the events of Endgame), we catch up with Scott Lang and company and learn what has become of everyone after the events of Endgame.

Because Scott, Hope and the Pyms were declared dead from the Decimation, their criminal records were wiped clean, allowing everyone to move on both professionally and personally.

With help from SHIELD and Stark Industries, Pym Tech is restored with Hope running as CEO.

Scott is seen juggling being Ant-Man and working Private Security for Pym Tech.

He's also spending as much quality time he can with now-teenage Cassie, who is itching to join her father in the superhero life.

Hope offers to train Cassie in secret, seeing her father would disapprove for her safety and Cassie happily accepts.

Hank and Janet have been developing more versions of the Ant-Man and Wasp suits (we'll even see Nano-tech versions supplied by Stark Industries under Pepper Potts-Stark).

Hope and Janet have even been developing a new version of Janet's original Wasp suit and believe Cassie would be perfect for it.

As for the rest, Luis and the Ex-Cons are still running their security firm and everything normal as usual.

Ava is revealed to be missing and hunted by the government for her past deeds.

Meanwhile, Cross, now going by the codename Crossfire, has been spending the past 8 years planning his revenge on Scott and his associates for their roles in his brother's death.

He is then given an address and smiles when he sees who lives there: Scott's ex-wife Maggie, her 2nd husband and…Cassie.

Scott and Hope are informed by SHIELD Agent Maria Hill that Ava was found and taken into custody at a SHIELD black site.

They meet with now-SHIELD agent Jimmy Woo (Scott put in a good word to Fury just to get him off his back because of his record being wiped clean) and they meet with Ava.

Ava is shown to still phasing in and out but not as bad as it was before. They ask her where she's been all the years.

Ava reveals to be one of the victims of Thanos' snap and when she returned, she found out her father figure/mentor Bill Foster had begun working with a sinister organization unbeknownst to SHIELD and a far cry from HYDRA.

Ava reveals that she had been working to sabotage their latest operation but was arrested by authorities before she could complete the task.

Ava then tells Scott that the person running this organization knows everything about him and that they have big plans for him. This worries Scott.

During this, Cassie is having dinner with her mom and stepdad when the family is attacked by armed mercenaries outside the house. Cassie is wounded but Maggie and Jim are killed. The house is then blown to bits, which knocks Cassie unconscious. When she wakes up a day later in the hospital, she is informed by her father that her mother and stepfather have died. This devastates Cassie, who is consoled by her father and Hope.

After Scott and Cassie bury Maggie and Jim, Scott requests Ava be released so that they can hunt down the organization responsible. Hill is unable to comply due to Ava's record and still see her as a flight risk. This results in Scott and Hope planning to break her out using the Ant-Man and Wasp tech.

Meanwhile, SHIELD has Hank, Janet and Cassie moved to a safe house but Cassie insists on helping her father and Hope find out who's responsible, despite her age and limited training (the latter of which Scott discovers). Scott refuses for her safety and even chastises Hope for training his daughter without his permission. Cassie then returns the blow. Coupled with her grief and the five years believing her father to be among those lost in the Decimation, Scott and Cassie have a falling out.

Scott and Hope then travel to where Ava is being held: The Raft. Hope apologizes to Scott for betraying him and Scott admits he was wrong for what he said but since Cassie is without her mother, she is the only family he has left. He then tells Hope that he was planning to retire as Ant-Man because every time he got in trouble, he missed part of Cassie growing up as a result and wants to stop before he misses anymore.

Scott and Hope then get to the Raft. Scott goes in, with Hope standing by as the Wasp, ready to supply Ava with the Ant-Man suit to escape. Before the initial plan goes to work, Scott tells Ava that his ex-wife and husband were killed but Cassie survived and a remorseful Ava apologizes for not stopping them sooner. Ava, giving what little information she knows, tells Scott that the organization call themselves, The Masters of Evil. They were formed by Helmut Zemo, following his escape from government custody (in-between the events of Civil War and Endgame). When Scott asks her why they are targeting him and his family, she tells him that Zemo's top assassin is William Cross. Upon putting the pieces together, Scott realizes that Cross wants revenge for his brother Darren and won't rest until Scott and any member of his family is done away with. This furthers his fear for Cassie's safety even more. Hope manages to get the Ant-Man suit into Ava's cell, the ants that were brought with them begin covering the cameras and without a sound or a whimper, Scott and Hope manage to get Ava out of the Raft without letting SHIELD or the Raft guards know. They set off to find Cross and the Masters.

Meanwhile, Cross meets with Zemo and Cross reveals to Zemo part of their master plan: A former SHIELD tech named Eric O'Grady had come into possession of a prototype Ant-Man suit made by SHIELD and for years after SHIELD's fall, has been using it for personal, financial and some less-than-desirable gain. Having tracked him down, Cross, using a special formula developed by Foster, intend to use O'Grady as a distraction for Lang, Van Dyne and Starr as they work towards their Master Plan. Zemo leaves Cross to carry out their Master Plan as he deals with another problem (tie-in to the events of the Disney+ Falcon/Winter Soldier series).

Meanwhile, without Hank and Janet noticing, Cassie escapes from the safe house (actually it's the same house from the first two Ant-Man movies, Hank just moved it to the woods for seclusion.) and takes a few things with her: The miniaturized lab, the Hot Wheels case of shrunken cars, all of Pym's Ant-Man designs, Pym Particles and the prototype Wasp suit.

With Ava out of the Raft, Scott and Hope ask who they need to find to get to Cross. Ava only says one name: Bill Foster.

Foster is now living reclusively at the same house that he and Ava shared. Upon returning to the U.S., Scott, Hope and Ava are ambushed by the Masters' armed forces. They manage to subdue all of them until they are attacked by O'Grady, going by the codename The Black Ant. They are genuinely surprised upon discovering this and realize this may be deeper than they thought. Ava tells them that the Masters must know they're going for Bill, so they need to hurry.

Settling into a secluded area further down from Hank had set up the house, Cassie unshrinks the lab and begins work on her own suit. Luckily, the suit she stole is almost fully functional but needs a few more tinkers and the Pym particles.

On the way to find Bill, Scott gets a call from Hank and Janet, letting him know that Cassie has run off and taken everything pertaining to the Ant-Man research along with her. Scott tells him to find her because if the Masters get to Bill before they do, they will most likely track down the lab and Cassie. Hank manages to place a security protocol on the Lab that will shut the lab's power down from a distance.

Cassie begins putting the finishing touches on her suit when Hank activates the protocol from the house. Cassie tries overriding the system but overrides the power as a result. This causes a chain reaction that damages the lab, sending Cassie hurtling across the lab, knocking her unconscious. One of the Pym Particle vials break and several drops fall into one of Cassie's fresh wounds, immediately healing it.

Scott calls Luis, Dave and Kurt to go to where Cassie took the lab and retrieve her and bring her back to Hank and Janet's. However, the trio are stopped by Crossfire and Black Ant. The trio try running over Cross and O'Grady but O'Grady grows to giant size and manage to overpower the group.

At the lab, Cassie wakes up and begins noticing how everything in the lab is smaller than before. She soon realizes that she is giant but she isn't wearing a helmet which would conceal her enough to allow her to shrink and grow. Eventually, she figures that the accident resulted in her DNA being spliced with the Pym particles. Knowing what trouble she will be in, Cassie manages to leave the lab in her giant form and begins fleeing somewhere she won't be a potential threat.

Scott, Hope and Ava arrive at Foster's. Upon entering, they're ambushed by Foster, who had anticipated their arrival, but Ava manages to knock him out.

Bill comes to and Scott begins questioning Bill about his involvement with Cross and the Masters. He resists but Ava threatens to turn him over to SHIELD if he lies or refuses. Scott begins to show his dark side when he threatens Bill's life, explaining that the Masters and Cross came for Maggie, Jim and Cassie and that the latter survived. Bill explains that after the Decimation hit and Ava was lost, he felt he had failed again and went into a deep depression, even began feeling suicidal. Two years after the Decimation, he was approached by Cross and revealed who he was. Cross offered to fund Foster's Goliath project in exchange for its use. What Bill didn't know then but found out soon after was that Cross and his associates had tainted his Goliath formula. Should the user grow to more than 60ft, the Masters would have complete control over the user.

As soon as this information is explained, Foster's security cameras catch a group of Masters armed men descending onto the property. Scott, Hope and Ava are about to go out and do battle once again but as soon as they step out, they see the men are already being dealt with. Hope notices that the men are being attacked by insect-sized fighters. She realizes who they are: it's Hank and Janet, the original Ant-Man and the Wasp. While Ava and Bill deal with the unconscious mercs, Hank and Janet tell Scott and Hope they went to where Cassie took the lab and discovered some abnormalities. Scott, Hope, Hank, Janet and Ava, also joined by Bill race to look for Cassie before Cross and his associates or other forces find her first. Scott then calls Woo who tells him to inform Hill about the Masters and what they're planning next.

Meanwhile, Cassie, still in giant form, is roaming through the woods when she comes across a young girl who appears to be stranded and separated from her family on a camping trip. After helping reunite the girl with her family, Cassie is then attacked by soldiers on orders from The Masters. Cassie easily overpowers the mercs before they can do more harm. She then flees further through the woods until she makes it to the San Francisco skyline.

Meanwhile, O'Grady, now under the Masters' control, begins terrorizing San Francisco while Cross has fled and Luis and the ex-Cons watch helplessly from the top of the building their van is parked on.

Cassie makes it to downtown San Francisco where O'Grady is. O'Grady, with manipulation from Cross, begins taunting the girl about her mother and stepfather which enrages the girl, causing her to grow a lot more to just about O'Grady's current size. The two then engage in a full-scale giant battle. O'Grady continues putting more lives in danger as Cassie tries to keep the people from being killed. They continue to fight until Scott and the others arrive. Scott and Hank both become Giant-Man and the two, along with Hope, Janet and Ava, keep the pedestrians at bay.

When Scott sees Cassie in giant-form for the first time, he's both concerned and a little bit proud that Cassie has managed to keep her own against O'Grady. O'Grady then delivers a kicking blow to Cassie, knocking her down against several buildings. Scott and Hank then attack O'Grady while Hope and Janet check on Cassie.

Janet deduces that Cassie's anger makes her grow so her opposing feelings of sadness reduce her to regular size. Cassie is resistant at first but Hope pleads to her that O'Grady is not the real fight and asks her to think about the one thing that makes her happy or sad. Watching her dad and Hank fight O'Grady, we get a callback to Ant-Man and the Wasp where we see young Cassie talk to her dad about wanting to be a superhero and his partner, other memories including ones of her mother cause her to shrink back to regular size and Cassie embraces Hope and Janet, apologizing for everything. Scott and Hank manage to subdue O'Grady and reduce him to regular size.

In the aftermath of the battle, Scott and the others brace themselves for what's to come.

Scott and Cassie embrace when seeing each other. Scott tells her they're going to have a long conversation about the recent events and a punishment will be discussed but is happy that his daughter is not only ok but really showed her heroics.

Shortly after, the army arrives and the group prepare to surrender themselves but when a couple of the soldiers step out, Ava notices they are soldiers she had crossed paths prior to being arrested, revealing they are with The Masters. Cross then steps out of the armored vehicle and pulls out a sonic device that knocks them out immediately. Cross then orders his soldiers to grab O'Grady. He then orders them to grab Scott and Cassie telling them "The Boss" has big plans for them.

They leave Hank, Janet, Hope, Ava and Bill behind as the real authorities including Hill and Woo arrive too late. A couple blocks away, Luis, Kurt and Dave try signaling for help but get no response.

Hope, Hank, Janet, Ava and Bill come to and wake up in an off-site SHIELD facility as Hill reprimands them for not only the damage they caused in San Francisco but also for freeing Ava from the Raft.

Hill then tells them that Scott, Cassie and O'Grady were taken before they arrived. Hope pleads with Hill to let them help find Scott and Cassie. Hill is initially hesitant but knowing and working under Nick Fury for years, she relents and allows them to help. Hank activates the tracker in Scott's suit and try to triangulate he and Cassie's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location, Scott and Cassie eventually come to and wake up in a cell, along with O'Grady, who's without his suit. O'Grady is disoriented as the effects of the Masters' control is waring off. Both Scott and Cassie are livid about their current predicament and the fact that O'Grady is in their presence. O'Grady tries appealing to their humanity but are untrusting. Cassie tries using her anger to grow to giant size but finds herself unable to. Cross, through a speaker, tells them that their suits or (in Cassie's case anyway) powers will not work as the room and the base they're in is activated with a forcefield.

Cross finally reveals himself to the father and daughter. Both struggling to keep their emotions and desire to kill the man who has essentially ruined both their lives in check. O'Grady pleads for his life but Cross ends up shooting him and leaving O'Grady presumably dead.

He then orders Scott and Cassie to follow him as he takes them to meet "The Boss".

On the way, Scott and Cassie notice the Masters' subjects at work on their grand plan. Cross tells them all about the Masters' history. Much like HYDRA, they have been feeding disasters and conflicts during the time before and after The Blip.

Cross tells them he had meant to strike their family sooner but because Scott was declared dead, Cross figured the family suffered enough anyway and that Scott's return followed by the reversal of Thanos' snap gave him a second chance to make their lives hell.

They finally meet "The Boss", believing they're meeting with Zemo, they are shocked to discover that Cross' boss is none other than…Darren Cross, alive and recovering from being mangled.

Darren reveals that after Scott defeated him years ago, he was trapped in the Quantum Realm. His body and mind were reshaped and restored with the use of quantum healing particles and during the latter half of Ant-Man and the Wasp, he accessed his way out of the Quantum Realm through Hank's transporter in his miniature size. He later hitched a ride with Bill Foster and soon after the Blip hit, he was able to grow back to normal size and left Foster's presence without anyone knowing.

He then reached out to his brother and the brothers began to formulate their Master Plan.

Their Master Plan is now revealed: Darren and William worked to revive the Yellowjacket project and this time, they now have an army of hundreds. The army consists of brainwashed citizens who were either left alone from the Blip and escaped criminals. Once the Yellowjacket army is unleashed, they will enter the Quantum Realm and cause havoc through space and time and reshape their world in the Masters' image.

Upon discovering their location, Hill orders a raid on the Masters' base while Hope and the others are to remain under SHIELD guard.

However, as usual, Hope, Hank, Janet, Ava and Bill never listen to orders and plan an escape to find Cross and the Masters. Managing to find a Quinjet, they are almost successful until they are stopped by Woo who has also remained at the base on Hill's orders.

Woo admits that he feels like an outsider since joining SHIELD and that it wasn't as fun as what Scott put it. Hope offers him a boost of morale and tells him to just do what his heart tells him. Woo's heart tells him to just go for it and joins Team Ant-Man in going to the Masters' base. They're about to head for the base until Bill asks to stop by his home as he says he needs to grab something "very important".

As Darren and William prepare to lead their Yellowjacket army into the Quantum Realm, William has both Scott and Cassie restrained, still unable to use their suits or powers.

Darren tells them that after the soldiers are released into the Quantum Realm, he will trap Scott and Cassie in the Quantum Realm forever and in his words, "You will have a front row seat to watch time and space wither away while you become tardigrade food and should you survive that, you will spend your remaining days withering away and pondering the lives you could have led".

As this is going on, Cassie notices O'Grady, crawling on all floors, making his way towards an electrical unit. The electrical unit is the one that's keep Scott and Cassie from using their suits. O'Grady manages a kickass quip before shutting down the forcefield. As soon as it's down, Cassie gets angry and immediately grows and Scott activates the Ant-Man suit and shrinks out of his restraints. Father and Daughter get to work very quickly, fighting off Yellowjacket soldiers. William tries putting an end to O'Grady but is soon interrupted by the arrival of Team Ant-Man. Hope, Hank, Janet and Ava help fight off the Yellowjacket army and are just as surprised to discover Darren alive.

Several soldiers try making it to the Quantum Tunnel but a giant foot suddenly crashes through the roof and stomps on the soldiers, killing them. It's revealed the foot belongs to Bill Foster, now going by the alias 'Goliath'.

Darren and William make an escape but Cassie notices and sets off after them. Scott sees this and tries to stop her but is overwhelmed by the army. He radios Hope to stop Cassie.

Cassie has managed to catch up to the Cross brothers and shrinks back to normal size to confront them. Both Cross brothers are intrigued and surprised at the girl at how far she has come. William offers to fight her one-on-one, no weapons or no powers. Immediately, Cassie races towards William and the two engage in a brutal fist fight in which Cross plays dirty by egging her on about her mother and stepfather's deaths. Cassie manages to not grow despite her furious rage and lands some brutal blows to Cross's face. When Cassie sees William's gun on the ground, she makes a grab for it and attempts to finish him off once and for all, while a gloating Darren watches. Hope arrives in time to talk her out of it. Woo then apprehends the Cross brothers.

Hill and SHIELD officials arrive a little late but help contain the situation.

With most of the soldiers dealt with, Team Ant-Man now have an even bigger problem. The Quantum Tunnel was damaged by the lasers shot off by the Yellowjacket army and is now unstable. Foster tries shutting it down but the machine itself is resistant. Foster then finds a quantum grenade designed by Cross that will not only destroy the tunnel but contain the realm. There is a slight hitch though. The grenade must be activated from within the Quantum Realm. Once the grenade is active, the explosion takes a split second and will kill the one who detonates.

Everyone is unable to decide who will make the sacrifice…until Hank steps up.

Scott, Hope and Janet plead with him not to go through with it but Hank says it all started with him and that he should be the one to finish it.

As the team make their tearful goodbyes to their mentor and leader, Hank makes his way onto the access point with Bill standing by ready to send him in. Janet then rushes up to the tunnel and gives her husband a kiss for good luck. She then turns her head towards the team and says to Scott "Scott…take good care of our daughter." She then orders Bill to send them both in while Hope tries running towards the tunnel only for Scott and Cassie to pull her back. Hank and Janet then enter the Quantum Realm where they activate the grenade and share one final loving look at one another when the grenade goes off and destroys the tunnel and sealing off the Quantum Realm. The team mourn their loss as Scott and Cassie console an emotional Hope.

In the aftermath, Hank and Janet are memorialized. Darren and William are convicted and sentenced to the Raft. O'Grady, feeling remorse for his actions, takes the full blame for what happened in San Francisco and is sentenced. Foster is restored as a SHIELD scientist while Ava, because of her involvement in exposing The Masters and apprehending the Crosses, is made an official agent of SHIELD. Foster helps sort Cassie out medically by removing what Pym particles he can from Cassie's DNA with only a few remaining. In time, the particles will eventually ware off.

Meanwhile, Scott and Hope are approached by Hill and Woo and thank them for all their involvement. After they leave, Scott notices that Hill left an envelope marked for Cassie and that is "For The Reader's Eyes Only!". As Scott leaves to go meet with Luis and the others, Hope tells him that she wants to talk to him about something later.

The something is revealed immediately: Hope walks back to her desk, opens up a drawer and finds a plastic bag with a pregnancy test that is marked positive. The Ant-Fam is about to get a new member.

Scott then gets a phone call from Cassie's school, telling him that Cassie missed a period. He then calls her phone and is surprised she picks up and tells him where she is.

It turns out, Cassie went to the house which is still damaged from Crossfire's attack. Scott finds his daughter among the wreckage. The two walk through the wreckage and remember those they lost. Cassie apologizes for all the trouble that has happened and Scott assures her that nothing is her fault and Father and Daughter are fully reconciled. They even find the ugly bunny toy that Scott got Cassie for her birthday after he got out of prison.

As soon as Scott and Cassie get in Scott's car to drive her back to school, Scott shows her the envelope marked to her from Hill. Cassie immediately opens it and upon checking it, has a look of genuine happiness. Scott then grabs it and it reads…

S.H.I.E.L.D. Classified Record

Project: AVENGER FAILSAFE INITIATIVE

MISS CASSANDRA ELEANOR LANG, AGE 16

PLEASE RESPOND AS SOON AS YOU HAVE READ THIS!

Project Director: NICHOLAS J. FURY

Upon reading this, Scott says "What the F-."

Mid-Credit Scene:

Darren and William Cross are paid a visit in the Raft by Nick Fury who presses them about where Zemo and the Masters are.

They refuse and tell him that The Masters are everywhere and embedded in agencies and organizations around the world.

Fury changes into Talos and asks them to tell him where his son is. Darren tells Talos "Your son belongs to him. He belongs to the Masters now."

An enraged Talos morphs back into Fury and leaves the Raft. He then calls his wife, still masquerading as Hill, to initiate the protocol. She then logs all the files (including Cassie's) and sends them off to SHIELD HQ with the message, "Initiate Avenger Failsafe Initiative." Various files are displayed, one of them being Cassie's.

Text: "Cassie Lang will return in Young Avengers."

Post Credit Scene:

Scott, as Ant-Man, is finally ready to propose to Hope.

He decides to surprise her by sneaking into her purse and waiting until they are home. Hope then grabs the plastic bag with the pregnancy test and throws it in as well.

Scott sees this and is shocked that he immediately shrinks back to normal, surprising Hope. Scott is then seen with the plastic bag and the ring box. The two are awkwardly silent until they exchange smiles at one another, leading Scott to get down on one knee and proposing to Hope, who happily accepts and Scott even more happy that he's going to be a father again.

THE END

Alternate Opening:

We open in San Francisco 2020, two years after The Blip.

A 12-Year-Old Cassie is shown in sitting in her room, depressed and barely cracking a smile. Not even the company of her oversized pet ant is enough to shake this girl out of her mood.

Cassie decides to get out and go for a bike ride. As she's leaving, she hears her mother on the phone. It appears that Cassie is on medication for depression and goes to group therapy sessions weekly.

Cassie rides her bike through abandoned neighborhoods and keeps biking until riding to the Blip memorial (the same one that Scott went to when he got out of the Quantum Realm 5 years after the Blip and a couple years prior to the events of Endgame). As she walks her bike through the memorial, she sees the names of all the people who were erased. She sees her father's name on the wall, causing a range of emotions inside but doesn't act on them due to being in public.

As soon as she returns home, Cassie is reprimanded by her mother and stepfather for disappearing. Her emotions get the better of her and explodes exclaiming "I wish I was blipped, so I won't have to deal with you guys anymore."

Cassie then holes up in her room and the scene cuts to two and a half years later in 2023. We now see the 15-year-old Cassie that we were introduced to in Avengers: Endgame. The once happy turned depressed girl was now even a more depressed and troubled teenager. We see her home alone, her pet ant has since died and relations with her mother and stepfather are still shaky. She's in her room listening to tunes and reading when she hears someone at the door. She is annoyed but as she makes her way towards the door, she sees a familiar face at the door. She thinks her eyes are playing her but as she gets closer to the door, she sees it's her father, alive and well. We see the reunion scene from Endgame play out before it cuts to black.


End file.
